How many skunks are there

And in their effort to find grubs and insects, the holes may move from section to section each night. We offer free inspections for wildlife removal services tailored to meet your needs. You might not see them. You might not hear them. But there may be an entire population of pests living in your home's crawl space. Pests you may find in your crawl space range from furry mammals like chipmunks, rats and mice, to destructive insects and bugs like termites.

Seeing more birds than business lately? If you're noticing an influx of flocks, you're likely in an area where birds are migrating to nest or wait out colder weather elsewhere. It's not the business or tourism increase you'd hoped for, and there are three bird pest species in particular you need to watch out for. Your home may be your castle, but it can also be a welcome shelter for insects, rodents and other kinds of pests.

To keep unwanted visitors away, take the following steps for pest-proofing your home. During the colder months of the year, rats, mice, squirrels and other rodents seek out places to stay warm and safe from predators. One of their favorite places to hide out is the engine of your car. Have you ever tried to start your car after tucking it away for a few days to find that there's something wrong under the hood? When your mechanics take a look, they find damaged, frayed or broken wires that are indicative of one thing — rodents calling your car home.

There are several different subspecies of gopher snakes found in the United States. Keep reading to learn more about five of those species of gopher snakes, and how you might be able to identify them. As the weather warms up and winter turns into spring, you may start to notice an increase in gopher activity.

There's the western spotted skunk, found pretty much everywhere west of the eastern spotted skunk. Then's there's our skunk, the striped skunk, which is found just about everywhere in the United States, except for a small area in the deserts of Nevada and Utah although we can also have the occasional western spotted skunk.

As well-known as a skunk is by sight, it's probably their legendary, powerful predator protection for which they are best known. Skunk spray is an oily liquid produced by glands under its large tail.

When threatened a skunk turns away from the threat and blasts it with a hard-to-remove, horrible-smelling spray, which can travel as far as ten feet. Skunk spray is a marvel of chemistry, made up of seven different major volatile components, a couple of which seem to be made to get trapped in fur and be released when damp.

Good luck fully deodorizing your dog. Skunks mate once a year, and the young are usually born in May or early June. The young kits are born hairless but have their striping pattern. Cute and good for the environment! Eastern spotted skunks are a small and slender skunk species that inhabit areas of the eastern United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.

They have thick black fur that has around 4 to 6 broken, white stripe-like patterns. They are also referred to as tree skunks because they are very good at climbing trees in search of fruits and the occasional snake. These types of skunks stomp around and perform handstands as a warning before they spray.

As the name suggests, this little skunk inhabits areas in the western parts of North America. Western spotted skunks have bold black and creamy white stripes. There are three longitudinal stripes on each side of the front part of the body, and three vertical stripes on the hind-parts.

One way to tell the difference between the western and eastern spotted skunks is that the western spotted skunk has more visible white coats. These skunks raise their tails, stomp, hiss, charge, scratch, before taking aim to spray foes with a foul-smelling ejection of liquid.

Are you starting to notice a pattern with these skunk names? The southern spotted skunk lives in areas of Costa Rica to southern Mexico. These skunks mostly resemble the western spotted skunk.

Like most other types of skunks, they are nocturnal hunters and typically feed on small mammals, insects, birds, eggs, grain, and fruit. Instead, the pygmy spotted skunk is only found in Mexico.

They have a black coat with distinctive white markings on its forehead and white stripes over its back and sides. However, like all skunks, if things get really tough, the pygmy spotted skunk will spray a foul-smelling liquid when needed.

These furry skunks get their name from the white cape-like fur that covers their head and necks. Some are completely black save for a white hood and some white areas on the tail. Others have a single wide, white dorsal stripe. When threatened, they stomp their paws, make their bodies into a u-shape, and can spray an oily substance from two anal glands. Spotted skunks, true to their names, have three white spots on their faces and four on their backsides, as well as six stripes on the tail.

These squirrel-sized skunks regularly climb trees and are best known for their endearing trick of balancing on front paws to do a handstand when frightened. The eastern spotted skunk Spilogale putorius lives in the eastern U. It prefers forests with a dense understory and is therefore observed infrequently. The southern Spilogale angustifrons and western Spilogale gracilis spotted skunks live farther to the south and west. Similar in size to the striped skunk, hooded skunks differ in hairdo, giving a first impression of an ungroomed Pekingese dog.

Their black faces are framed by a shaggy white mane that covers the tops of their heads, bodies, and silky tails. Some individuals exhibit the reverse color pattern or are entirely black, but all have the same long hood for which they are named.